Germany shut down its own reactors, and is now buying nuclear power in bulk

For comparison: In 2022, the three German nuclear power plants that were still connected to the grid produced approximately 32 billion kWh of electricity. This means that half of the nuclear energy that the Federal Republic once purchased from its own resources is now imported from abroad.

Angela Merkel’s government decided to shut down nuclear reactors after the accident at the power plant in Fukushima, Japan. She justified it by the fact that the country will at least have a head start in the production of electricity from renewable sources. In fact, the politicians never justified the move to the public, and it was always considered controversial and, to say the least, premature.

A net exporter of electricity became an importer. More and more electricity imports are covered by France: monthly figures have more than doubled compared to 2023. In November, it was just under a billion kWh (960 GWh) – and the share of energy from the core was up to 80 percent. Half of the imports were covered by nuclear power plants in France, Switzerland and Belgium.

According to Radiant Energy Reports, the total import of electricity to Germany in 2024 compared to 2023 has almost tripled by the first days of December. Paradoxically, approximately half of this imported energy came from France, Switzerland and Belgium, where the atom provides a large part of the energy.

“In other words, nuclear energy from abroad is extremely popular – because it is cheap, and even needed when there is no wind and sun,” notes Bild.

“During the phase-out of nuclear energy, Germany changed from an energy exporter to an energy importer. While in the period from December 2022 to November 2023 Germany exported a total of 1.79 billion kWh of clean electricity to France, in the same period from December 2023 to November 2024 it imported 13.19 billion kWh from France,” points out André Thess from the University of Stuttgart.

“The total amount of imported electricity shows that the coverage of the needs in the Federal Republic cannot be guaranteed without the import of electricity after the end of nuclear energy,” he adds.

“By decommissioning its nuclear power plants, Germany has shown itself to be rather self-centered towards neighboring countries: it relies on the fact that other countries will make up the resulting deficit,” emphasizes Manuel Frondel from the Leibnitz Institute.

At the end of November, the letter of Economy Minister Robert Habeck to his French counterpart Agnès Pannier-Runacher from August 2022 caused a stir.

The document was discussed last month by the Bundestag committee investigating Germany’s separation from the core. “In it, Habeck begged for French atomic energy at the time of the termination of the operation of German nuclear power plants,” noted the newspaper Bild, which together with the magazine Cicero got access to the correspondence.

The French minister responded to his warm “Dear Agnes” with the formal “Monsieur le Vice-Chancellier” (Mr. Vice-Chancellor). However, she agreed with the requested supplies.

After the death of the German core, Pannier-Runacherová sharply criticized her German colleague several times. Her accusation: Germany has to import nuclear energy, but it is gradually phasing it out. “The Greens have never minded the use of French nuclear energy,” she pointed out.